1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to receptacles, and more particularly to a flipping trash can especially adapted for use in fast-food restaurants and other establishments serving food on paper plates loaded onto trays.
2. Description of the Related Art
Most fast-food restaurants rely on the customers to discard their trash. The usual practice requires customers to bring their trash-laden trays to a large trash receptacle, manually open a hinged lid on the trash receptacle, and dump the trash therein. The tray is then deposited on an adjacent shelf to be picked up and cleaned for reuse by restaurant employees. This practice sometimes requires a bit of dexterity to avoid spilling some of the trash on the floor while maintaining the lid in an open position, attempting to dump the trash, and hold on to the tray, all at the same time.
Because of these difficulties, many customers simply leave their trash-laden trays on the restaurant tables. Additional personnel must be assigned for cleanup thereby increasing operating costs and reducing efficiency. The fast-food industry would certainly welcome a user friendly, trash collecting apparatus that encourages costumer use and efficiently collects both the trash and tray. Thus, a flipping trash can solving the aforementioned problems is desired.